Cervical Cancer Screening Uptake and associated factors among HIV positive women at Antiretroviral-Clinic of Lira Regional Referral Hospital

Abstract

t 305 participants (women receiving care from an Antiretroviral-Clinic in LRRH), between July 2022 and October 2022 was conducted in Lira Regional Referral Hospital. Data entries from questionnaires were captured in Microsoft excel version 2013 and exported to and analyzed in STATA version 15, at a confidence level of 95%. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine association between cervical cancer screening uptake and risk factors. Risk factors that show significant association with bivariate analysis were further subjected to multivariate analysis. Results: This study found that a significant number of the respondents had ever screened for cervical cancer (69%). Although other factors such as age, education level, religion and parity did not have significant impact, marital status, perceived barrier and chronic disease condition had scientifically significant associations with uptake of cervical cancer screening among respondents (AOR=0.19, 96% CI=0.064-0.560; AOR=9.63, 95% CI=3.81-26.36; AOR=06.34,95% CI=4.23- 13.56) respectively. Besides, compliance to guidelines for yearly screening for cervical cancer for women living with HIV was at 18.36%. Conclusion: The overall uptake of cervical cancer screening among the participants was relatively high (69%). However, compliance to guidelines was poor, with only 18.36% respondents attending to yearly screening as recommended by Ministry of Health. Key words: Cervical Cancer, Cervical Cancer Screening, HIV positive women, and Antiretroviral-Clinic